Sigur Rós

Takk

Icelandic orchestral-rock group Sigur Rós should be one of the most reviled acts on the pop landscape: Its songs typically last eight minutes, its albums are titled with symbols, singer Jon Thor Birgisson made up his own language (Hopelandic), and, last but certainly not least, it's an Icelandic orchestral-rock group. Yet no one is making music as gorgeous and mind-blowing as Takk. The melancholy horns that join the parade on "Sé Lest" eventually give way to "Saeglopur," a momentous set piece that erupts in a discharge of choral voices, horns, strings, and bowed guitar; elsewhere, the ten-minute "Milano" amounts to modern classical music played with a rock-band aesthetic. Atmospheric mood music has never sounded so elevating or inviting.

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